Foodie Blogroll

I ate at Carl R's in Glens Falls, NY tonight on the way back from West Mountain. I give it very high marks.

To start, chips and salsa are brought to the table, free of charge. The salsa is full of large bites of tomato. It is definitely fresh made, unlike Chili's watery salsa.

I ordered a buffalo chicken salad which I felt was fairly good. My only regret was that the portion of buffalo chicken on the salad was rather small. The presentation of the salad was strong, with four celery sticks lining each corner of the plate. A large amount of grated cheese was put on the salad. The vegetables were fresh and did not taste like they came out of a bag. The salad was reasonably prices at around 9 dollars.

I shared a brownie sundae with a friend, which was also very tasty. The brownie was warm and covered in rich hot chocolate. The vanilla ice cream was very rich and creamy.

I have eaten at the NY Grill in Colonie Center twice, and I give it very high reviews. The food is not cheap, but it is fresh and tasty. The menu has a great deal of variety, with both American and Greek entrees. There are a lot of fried foods, and also some good salads.

I had a fried chicken sandwich, which was $4.00. It was made fresh to order, so it came out piping hot. The chicken patty was all white meat, and very tasty. The inside was juicy and the outside was crispy. The sandwich was topped with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. The kaiser roll was large and fluffy. The value meal costs $2.00 more and comes with fountain drink and fresh, crispy shoestring fries. This meal was far superior to anything I have ever eaten at McDonalds or Wendy's.

One disappointment I have with the NY Grill is that breakfast is only served until 12am on the weekdays. Hopefully someday I will get an egg sandwich or a Western omelet from the NY Grill and report on it.

Tonight I ate at Sapienza, a pizza place right next to the Times Union Center in downtown Albany. The place was crowded, so I knew I was in for a treat.

The pizza is one of the best I have tasted in this area, and similar to the pizza I would find in downstate NY, which has excellent pizza. The crust is thin and there is a lot of cheese on the pizza. Overall, the taste is a nice blend of mozzarella cheese and olive oil. The slices are huge.

The price is high for pizza, but not bad for downtown Albany. Two slices of pizza and a medium fountain drink is $6.00. At Mild Wally's in Pine Hills, Albany you can get two slices and a soda for $3.00. However, downtown Albany is pricey because the politics makes it a destination for people around the state.

Whenever I attend an event at the Times Union Center, I head to Sapienza if I want pizza rather than Jonathan's. They give larger slices and the price is about the same.

Tonight I had a Crispy Chicken Salad at Red Robin. Though the portion size was good, the taste of the salad was not as good as Chili's, or either Wendy's for that matter. The salad is perhaps not the best item to order at Red Robin.

Taste: the crispy chicken in the salad was a little dry, and the pieces were very small. I could have had fresher chicken on my salad had I got the salad at Wendy's. The other ingredients in the salad were of comparable quality to Wendy's and not as good as restaurants like Friday's or Chili's. The lettuce also tasted like it came from a bag.

I had a large roast beef sandwich today at the Deli and Brew on Route 4 in Troy, right outside Hudson Valley Community College. This was one of the tastiest roast beef sandwiches I have ever had. The roast beef and cheese were freshly sliced and piled high onto the sandwich. This is more meat than even a double meat sandwich at Subway. Possibly a pound of roast beef and American cheese was placed onto the sandwich. The onions were not bitter and the pickles were excellent (not pickle chips, but long Claussen stackers). It was definitely not a Weight Watchers entree, but it was delicious. For $8.49, this sandwich provided me with two meals. This place is almost worth the 20 minute drive out to Troy.

Mr. Subb has brought back the Neba, a hot roast beef sandwich. The Neba is good, but not great. It is better than Arby's, but not quite as good as Maurice's.

The Neba comes with a large portion of moist, flavorful roast beef. When you order the Neba, the server will ask you if you want "tiger sauce" which tastes like mayonnaise with horseradish. It is tasty, but takes away from the flavor of the roast beef a little bit. The Neba would be better if it came with a side of au jus. The sandwich comes on a hard roll.

For $3.99, the Neba is comprable to Arby's and Maurice's. Arby's and Mr. Subb both taste artificial to me. Maurices is fresly sliced, and the bun is dipped in au jus sauce.

I had a hamburger combo at Fuddrucker's today. The restaurant was quite empty tonight. I am not sure if it is because of the slippery roads, but the prices do not help. A 1/3 pound hamburger combo is about $8.50.

The burger has excellent flavor. It seemed quite small for a 1/3 pound; it did not nearly cover the bun. The burger was moist and juicy. The fries were average. The seasoning was good, but they were definitely not fresh cut. For the cost, I was hoping for a large portion of fresh fries.

One of the benefits of Fuddruckers is the fresh and bountiful fixins bar. The pico de gallo and the banana peppers are definitely unusual for a burger joint. The lettuce and tomato looks extremely fresh.

The great thing about the combo meal is that it comes with a cookie. I love ending my meal with a cookie. The cookies are small, but they are fresh and warm.

I went to Emperors tonight with my girlfriend. I must say Emperors is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the area. It is as good as Ichiban. It is of similar or better quality than downstate Chinese restaurants.

For appetizers, we ordered won ton soup and a spring roll. The won ton soup was a large portion with large, meaty won tons. The spring roll was also large and crispy. It tasted as if it had just been pulled out of the fryer.

For dinner, we had orange chicken and roast pork chow fun. The orange chicken was a pleasant surprise. Chicken dishes in Chinese restaurants have one of two flaws: either the chicken is dark meat and fatty, or the chicken is heavily breaded. Emperor's orange chicken is large chunks of white meat that are not over fryed. There is the taste of breading, but one is not overwhelmed by it. The chow fun is perfect -- greasy noodles with rich, fatty pork. The pork was not shredded; real chunks of pork made it into the dish.

The meal was finished with a fortune cookie that was fresh and not stale. Emperors clearly has their act together. They score an A+ for me. Dinner at Emperor's is a little more expensive than Chili's, but sometimes Chinese food is just what the doctor ordered.